Marcus Samuelsson's monthly series is celebrating up-and-coming BIPOC chefs

Time Out

5 days ago

Summer is officially here, so you have little excuse not to get outside and experience New York's best in food and drink. But, as we all know, not all of the city's best cuisines can be confined to just four walls. Rather, some of the finest can be found right outside, popping up in wine bars, cooking under the Brooklyn Bridge and steadily parked on street corners. Heck, the buzz generated from these outdoor cook-offs has led to real-deal operations, from Anthony Ha and Sadie Mae Burns's roving Vietnamese snack operation turned LES wine bar Ha's Snack Bar, to Jorge Aguilar's breakfast taco operation Border Town, which is heading to Greenpoint later this year.
With all that said, we think it's best to become a loyal follower now so you can say 'you knew them when.' And while we don't mind crisscrossing the city to see what's up-and-coming, for those of you who'd like to save a little coin on the train, a FiDi steakhouse will be hosting several foodie pop-ups under its roof all summer. Even better? Superstar chef Marcus Samuelsson is hosting.
This summer, Samuelsson and executive chef Sherry Cardoso of Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson are celebrating the season with their first-ever "Subway Series." Kicking off this month until July 23, the summertime pop-up series is giving BIPOC chefs without a physical restaurant space a chance to showcase their fare on a larger stage. Six chefs from around the way will be taking over the restaurant's outdoor terrace, introducing the likes of Sudanese sambuxas to octopus poke tacos inspired by the Philippines.
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Starting the series last week was Christopher Martin of Cmarty's Jerk. Remixing Caribbean flavors, he introduced house-smoked Jerk Chicken with a yam-plantain mash purée and Pan Seared Escovitch Snapper cooked in a red pepper purée with drops of scallion cilantro-oil. For dessert, chef Martin finished with a Ginger Snap Cereal S'more with a fire-toasted marshmallow.
Next in the series, chef Shelly Flash of 2 Girls & A Cookshop will be taking over this Wednesday, June 25. A MasterChef, The Great Food Truck Race and Chopped alum, Chef Flash cooks alongside her daughter Jatuan, telling the story of the vibrant cookshops of Jamaica and street food across the diaspora. Using tacos as a vehicle, past iterations have included hot honey and fried chicken tacos and chopped cheese tacos. Meanwhile, on July 9th, a familiar face will be hosting the series: Christian Marcano, chef de cuisine of Metropolis. Selling empanadas during the pandemic, chef Marcano hopes to turn his bulk empanada operation, Empanada Eleven, into a food truck.
With Filipino, Sudanese and Chino-Latino in the line-up, the only question is: which one are you going to visit first? Check out the full schedule of events below: